Friday, May 14, 2010

Heartaches Pilot 11 - Shan's call

At home, Shaniqua dials Roxy's number to see if she is feeling any better."Hey Rox! Do you feel better now that you've been home for awhile? Let's go hang out by the Catholic school tonight!"

Roxy: "you'll never believe what my own mother did, Shan!! She threw out Curly Fuzz Poodle!!!"Shan: "What!!? No way! He was your favorite toy!! What did she do that for?"Roxy: "Because she HATES me!!" Shan: "She must, if she threw out Curly! Maybe we can find you a new Mom!"Roxy:" Hang on, someone's at my door."Roxy's Mom is standing in the doorway, holding something behind her back.Roxy:"What do you want now?! To beat me with whips? Leave me alone! I'm on the phone!"Mom: "No, Honey, I bought you a nice toy - a TV one!"Mom wants to win Roxy's favor and has bought her a brand new doll: Dorra Diversity, based on the award winning TV cartoon that tells you what to believe!

Mom: "And she's good for the environment too! She's completely made of recycled materials! Plus, she talks! She shares lessons about getting along with all races and cultures! Isn't that fun?? How do these crazy cartoonists come up with such wild stuff?"Roxy doesn't care about toys that teach you anything. All she wants to know is: "Is she FUNNY?"

Mom is repulsed: "Funny? Gawd no! Nothing so vulgar as that!"Roxy has a fit. "I don't wanna learn anything! I want my funny retarded Curly Fuzz Poodle back! Go away, Robespierre!" She tosses her phone at Mom.The phone bounces off Mom's head and Roxy catches it.She turns and sobs to Shaniqua: "Oh Shan I'm so worried about Curly! He's all alone in the cold cruel world! No one to love him!!""Aw, I'm sure he's got someone, Rox. Don't worry..."Meanwhile, Curly is shivering from the cold in his new house of love. Spaz is concerned about his fragile wife.Canadian wind blows through the house. Curly has another problem besides being cold. He pulls his talking cord and whispers to his husband "I gotta...psst,psst,psst."Spaz motions to the door. "So go, already!" Hardy mutts like him don't use fruity indoor facilities. Curly is shocked. He whimpers "But I'm afraid to go out in the dark all alone."Spaz walks his mate outside to reassure him while he does his duty. Spaz is starting to wonder whether marrying a soft and pampered uptown girl was the smartest thing to do.

OH my goodness!Part 11 is the funniest part of the story.Love Shan's poses on the bed. I agree with Lampshade, its just like Leela says "we can't get along until we pretend to like each other" just joking.

i think this is really funny, but like all your other cartoons, it seems to fall into that no mans land demographic between kids and adults... where i guess teens are supposed to pick up the slack, but they are too cool for watching cartoons. seems like a hard sell, as funny as it is. very relate-able

John, I'm surprised you could even stomach watching that awful Dora show they have on Nickelodeon these days. You must have puked on your TV right after watching one lame, bland, moral-crammed episode with crappy voice talent, etc, and then washed it all down with some of your favorite Nelvana cartoons, like Franklin and Little Bear, therefore, causing even more puking in front of Eddie Fitzgerald and friends. After all, you are from Canada.

I personally enjoy the way you draw black people and I think her name is cute! When I was a kid My mom always showed me a diverse array of artists who drew black people that were stylized and so dark... something you don't really see today! Now skin tones in cartoons these days have to be "realistic", as if this doesn't exist anymore

Shan isn't trying to be different of what's stereotyped, bus is just portraying a kid being a kid! When I was young and nappy headed (like 6), I listened to Hendrix, Fitzgerald, Led Zeplin, The Beetles, anything that was good! A white kid even mentioned I was odd because I liked rock.... haha what?

Anyways, long story short, Shan is fun and relatable. I wish figures or plushes of her existed when I was a girl... Especially if you could stylize those poofs with some crazy blues, browns, and blacks!

Ever see Proud Family? Did you ever like the visual and interactive diversity between the black characters? Someone said the show was a stereotype of black people. But I never saw it that way since I could find a real life family member who acted similar to each character individually. Then again I'm the same person who thinks golliwogs are appealing.

I would suggest, depending on how much you want to squeeze out of the Dora spoof, it would be more clever if Roxy figured out the doll's lameness on her own, or if it was gradually revealed to us, rather than her mom explaining everything upfront.

This officially sold me on the show. I can see why networks aren't picking it up, though: it's too smart. Not for the kids--networks just have this ridiculous idea that kids are idiots and wouldn't "get" this stuff. That's what I always appreciated about your stuff as a kid--I never felt like you were talking down to us kids, like so many other shows did (like, and I hate to mention its name here, Doug). My parents could watch Ren and Stimpy and laugh just as hard as I could. Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry--they were the same way. Heartaches is already on the right track.